The Good. Human Resources a key part of Fashion Retail

The single most frustrating and satisfying part of retail is the human resources aspects of running a store. When you've got a good team and personnel with leadership qualities it's easy.

For the most part I've been fortunate at Tru to have some great staff. The core team we have at Tru has been together for well over 2 years and one of my best girls have been with us from the very beginning. I'd love to keep them all but time marches on and the girls lives are progressing as they finish up university or moving forward in their fashion careers. I'm very proud to say that one of my old assistants has now been promoted to be the Manager of Lacoste (a store over from Tru Drama) Congratulations D! The current assistant has a big moment in the future for herself and will be leaving us soon too. I hope she decides to go to Parsons or FIDM, at those fine institutions they'll elaborate on her already formidable merchandising skills.

So with my existing team getting older and moving on I've placed an ad for new hires. What's been surprising is the quality applicants we've had. I don't recall a time when I had 3 good applicants let alone the 7 great applicants out of the 50 plus girls that applied. I've come to realize that the girls who join us have come to work for us have a similar reasons. You're thinking money perhaps? Nope, we don't pay anymore than anyone else. One of the main reasons is fashion... the deep down honest to goodness desire for fashion in all it's forms.

I have friend in the mall that owns a few stores in Oakrdige mall. His attitude and pretty much all other retailers is to tell their employees NOTHING. He's been burned before since one of his employees opened up a competing store and stole his lines. Ouch! However, I think he's forgotten that a very very very long time ago I worked for him too! Yup I used to work in his Robson store for 4 weeks. I recall he didn't like the way I merchandised. It was all his way... which is fine but with no explanation of why. I wanted to learn but it wasn't going to happen there.

I spent my retail career at shops where I thought I could learn the trade. Where did I learn? I've worked at all sort of places, but the best places are boutiques. You certainly won't learn anything at the Gap or H&M. At chain stores you're not going to learn anything about fashion or retailing other than how to fold and watch for shoplifters. Those sorts of businesses are all about inventory and keeping it in stock.

What I personally offer is respect. That is of course that the staff member respects the other staff, customers, product and store. I respect that all my staff have goals beyond working at the store. If they're fashion goals then I will help them any way I can. It doesn't scare me when a staff member wants to open her own store or dreams of their own line. So if you want a high paying job work at Starbucks. Working with us will get you a start in fashion.

The Best Assistants

Yesterday, was the last day for my assistant D. She's moving on to enrich her fashion career. I think this is a good move and I fully support her in this. She's been with me for 3 years. Like my previous assistant Karen, she came over from the Kris + Cris Shoes store when we opened Tru Drama. I've had 2 assistants since my second store and both of them have been invaluable.

The assistant position isn't the same as a store assistant manager. Although at times they've been both. They're really a rare blend of "can do" attitude, brains, maturity and of course fashion ability. My first assistant Karen has moved to Toronto to work in finance. In my last visit to Toronto we had gotten together for drinks and lunch. I'm glad to say she's on the path to mega bucks even though her career is sucking her soul dry. She misses fashion!

D is embarking on a similar one I had made at her age. Trying to make it in fashion. She's got all the right tools to be successful. I hope she finds herself in the right companies that will recognize and nurture her star talents. I'm certain one day I'm going to be talking to a young fresh faced assistant about D, "Yeah I knew her when..."

My assistants are my in-store confidantes, travel mates and fashion buyers. The first time me and D attended our first Vegas show was a great experience. We came back home with our bags packed to the brim with free giveaways from suppliers. Not much can beat free things! The very best times have been sharing meals with them. I've had the pleasure of introducing two "must haves" in LA to them. Homemade Tiramisu at Al Gelato on Robertson and Shin-Sen-Gumi Yakitori in Torrance. The "O" faces we would make while eating would be near pornographic.

It's been an honour to share fashion and food with these two great girls!

Barcelona Baby!

This cold Vancouver weather is driving me nuts. It's either wet or near freezing... or both! I can't help but dream of warmer places. Since I can't be at Bread and Butter Barcelona, I thought I'd show you guys some pics of someone who's there now. Thanks to fellow retailer Modcloth, who's attending the show now. Out of Pittsburgh they do vintage and vintage inspired clothing. Very Cool! Now on to her fabulous pictures!

Man this is gaudy! Okay, it's a stupid... barely inside joke.

Candies, desserts and booze. I don't know if Modcloth buys with these aides but I sure do.

Yes, buying inventory is this hard.

Bread and Butter is all about making statements. What do you think this brand is trying say with these bowler hats?

The showroom floor.

Getting a new line. It's Akademik!

I've been looking to replace one of the Tru Drama's existing lines. The line is maturing and flirting with the mass market. Since we're all about the hot and new, that won't do.

The process of choosing and obtaining a new line can sometimes be a tough one. However, it can fall into one's lap as easily as watching TV. I was watching America's Next Top Model (yes I have an addiction). The mid episode prize was a photoshoot for 3 girls for a line called Akademiks. It's an urban line with an emphasis on innovation and graphical prints. It seems like a good fit but my partner feels it's too young. We won't know until it gets into the store.

Getting a line isn't always easy. Sometimes it hard to even find out who the agent representing the brand is. Many times the agent won't sell to an area where the brand already exists, the store and brand have different concepts and/or simply the agent and buyer don't get along. It's especially hard for new stores to get respect from agents.

In this situation the line was almost as easy as finding it. The agent is a guy I've known for ages. We've done business in the past and it was easy as picking up the phone. He noted that like me, he's been flooded by inquiries after the airing of the America's Next Top model episode. I ordered up a few test pieces and they will be arriving for Holiday, so around December.

Leggings for the right silhouette

One of the more dominant looks of the fall season is the long top look. The top can be a sweater or tunic and should be about mid thigh level. To compliment the top you can't really do a flare leg jean or any other wide style bottom. You'll likely end up looking shorter than you are.

To get the right silhouette, a tapered or tight fit pant is the way to go. So slim fit jeans or tights are ideal. You may love tucking in your jeans into boots but depending on the boot, the process can be a difficult one. So what's the alternative? Let me introduce you to our tights.

Two of the more popular styles are these denim coloured ones.
We've got them in dark blue and black denim styles. These cotton leggings have the texture of denim and most importantly have that distinctive jean stitching detail. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

Ed Hardy Spring 08 Fashion Show

I found this little clip while I was posting an image for the last post. It shows in way better detail the fashion show we attended in August. I think I made the clip mistakingly when I thought I was taking a picture but I was actually shotting a video.

As you may expect from an Ed Hardy fashion show, lots of skin and super hyper models. The show was great!

Trends and Colours for Spring 08

Due to the nature of Vancouver's Spring weather it's always a challenge to determine what to buy and when to have it arrive. Like many other buyers it's always such a gamble for their spring buy. It's probably why I'm finding myself only now finalizing my orders.

Colour wise it seems like the season is heading toward a bright cherry red. Mind you I saw a lot of purples for fall in the current windows of the stores in Milan. It doesn't always happen but we do tend to be behind the European trends and colours by a season. So we may see a purple crop up somewhere.

Of course at Tru Drama the current fashion trends/colours aren't always in play since we've built up a loyal following for our brands. Often they veer wildly from what conventional trends are going. For you Ed Hardy fans, we're gonna see the tattoo styles morph into more like punk graffiti type looks. It's a strong look but we'll see how much the look sticks with customers.

(above picture) The Ed Hardy Spring 08 fashion show.
Yes it was in a cage!

Random bits from Hong Kong and Seoul

Just some bits to post about the recent trip.

The following 2 pictures are the before and after of my Myongdong meal in Seoul. For a couple of girls we sure made short work of what looked like a lot of food.



I dropped by the APLF. It's a shoes and accessories show at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. I've never been but decided to give it a try. There was lots of bags but hardly and shoes. Overall it was a pretty disappointing collection of suppliers. Despite the claimed 600 suppliers from 25 different countries, I finished the show in an hour.

On the way to getting dessert in Causeway Bay one night I came across this Mercedes with an insanely vain vanity plate. We had a window seat inside the Moon House Dessert cafe (the orange place) so we inadvertently staked out the car. Too bad the driver never showed up before we left.

Hong Kong Shopping

It's fitting that I find myself in one the worlds best shopping cities, Hong Kong. I think in order for any city to be a great shopping destination you need lots of people. Check out the throngs of locals and visitors on a Monday afternoon in Causeway Bay! A couple of days more of this and I'm off to Korea!

Aimless thoughts at midnight before the airport

I've got a 3AM flight to Asia tonight... errr... tomorrow morning. I've got 30 minutes to kill so here I am with my new blog. I didn't expect to have so much to say or to have such a good time saying it. So I hope you're all enjoying too!

I'm off to Hong Kong to see some family and friends. One of my long time key staff has moved back to help out in the family business. So we'll do lunch. I'll also shuttle over to Japan for funky new designers and Korea for knitwear and accessories.

I was flipping channels and saw the on SNL the "Iran So Far" digital short with Andy Sandberg and Maroon 5 guy sing a gay love song about that Mahmoud guy. Funny stuff. I also caught most of an Elise Estrada video on Muchmusic. It wasn't bad but more interesting was that clearly it was filmed in Coal Harbour. So I take it she's a local. I wonder if she's ever shopped at the store. We certainly would welcome her if she wasn't!

Sudden realization just dawned on me! I haven't watched TV in ages. I watch a lot TV shows but it's been ages since I watched it on a TV. I do all my watching on either streaming media or via downloads. This is a superior way to watch shows, no commercials and where else would I be able to watch Next Top Model from Britain or Australia? The NTM show, even the US version isn't about fashion or modeling... it's about catty women living together. Gawd, I love that show. In the current ANTM I like the girl with autism. She's so different and I like an underdog.

Opps got to fly, literally!

Milan Fashion and Clubs

Down to work! With shopping aside, everyone knows Milan is the city of fashion and that's what we're here for! So we focused on getting sexy dresses and tops for the store.

The show is always cool. You'll see stuff that you won't see anywhere else. Like this Faux Boa Leather clad car.

The show itself is crazy it's like 20 Costcos! If we didn't know what we were doing it would take us 2 weeks to go through it all.

After the shows we got invited to this Club in the middle of nowhere. It's called Borgo Del Tempo. It's like an outdoor nightclub in the middle of some farm land. It's wild and crazy fun, with go-go dancers to boot. I've included the link if you want to go. When I was lining up to go to the washrooms there was lots of double action going on in the stalls. Yup crazy!

The outdoor club lounge area

The streets of Milan are paved with bags

Last week I came back from a 6 day buying trip. I went with a girlfriend, for her this would be her first trip... for me this would more times than I have fingers.

The plane trip itself was exhaustive as we had to transfer 2 times and had some unexpected layovers. Once we got there we hit the ground running. We hit Duomo, Monte Napoleaone and Spiga right away. Those areas are really the center of the world when it comes to shopping. They have like 3 Prada shops in the same block! Italian made stuff is generally cheaper than in Canada and when you factor in all the various taxes and duties, we still come out like 30% cheaper than Holts.

I really like Bottega bags despite the brand being older, I found one that wasn't all old lady like and snapped it up. I must say this trip I was the ideal of self control, I only bought a few things. My GF on the other hand went hog wild. For fear of reprisals from her husband, let's just say she did very well.

It's 2AM at the Central train station in Milan. They've got the only 24 hour supermarket around. There's lots of people around, must be the art exhibit going on.